Foreign charter flight ban causing annual $4.5 million loss to Almaty Intl Airport

    The Almaty Airport of is losing over $4.5 million each year because of the ban on foreign charter flights from Kazakhstan.
    $4.5 million is the airport's loss from lack of foreign charters from Almaty to Turkey alone, Tengrinews reports according to Daulet Mamekov, vice president for Economy and Development at the Almaty International Airport.
    According to t Mamekov, more than 250 flights were made from Almaty to Antalya and Bodrum during the summer alone.
    The Almaty Airport reports revenue from ground services to non-resident air companies totaled KZT 4.3 million ($28 thousand) while revenue from the same services to Kazakhstani resident air companies was 700-900 thousand tenge ($4.5-5.8 thousand).
    "The calculated services include providing our own fuel and lubricants to these companies. The cost for an Almaty-Antalya return ticket from a foreign air company such as Atlas Jet, Pegasus, Corendon Airlines clear of all discounts and privileges has always been lower than that of a Kazakhstani company. (... ) The airports are already experiencing losses because SCAT Air services its planes on its own. Substitution of foreign charter companies making flights to Turkey with Kazakhstani firms will mean an annual loss of $4.5 million for the international airport of Almaty," he said.
    Kazakhstan banned foreign carriers from making charter flights from the country last summer, but then postponed it to October. Now Kazakhstan air companies alone are allowed to schedule these flights.
    Kazakh firms now lack the planes to meet existing demand for charter flights, according to www.tengrinews.kz.